


Inscribed Quirks (and how they can work together)

by QueenSonoko



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, How Do I Tag, Language Barrier, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, There will be fluff, a heaping helping of friendship, aizawa gains more problem children: the fic., dimensional shenanigans, eventually, he doesnt, i guess, i have rules that will be explained later, it wont ever be above a T tho, oh wait thats me, sylvie thinks he knows everything, the being that sent them there is a jerk they didnt even bother to automatically translate, wow a crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22728910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSonoko/pseuds/QueenSonoko
Summary: Sent to UA high school by a strange power, Molly and Sylvie must find a way home.Maybe they can save the world along the way as well.
Comments: 103
Kudos: 316





	1. Arrival

Chapter 1

_Not everyone is born a hero. Even in a world where magic is common, but barely present or relied on in the day to day. Or a world where magic is present and heavily relied upon, but uncommon among the people._

_What, perhaps, is the difference between the two? After all, in both worlds those with power exert their influence on those without._

_In one, powers known as Quirks are heavily restricted, with use only permittable within certain jobs and circumstances. In the other, abilities known as Epithets are let run wild, with no rules on how they are used._

_A world where imagination is limited by power, and a world where power is limited by imagination._

_A world where 20 percent of people are powerless, or a world where only one in five people have any sort of power._

_But what would happen if one world was visited by another? Quirks and Epithets, different and yet the same._

_This is not a story about the nature of power however. This is something entirely different. It’s a story of trying to get home, making friends, and even learning something new along the way._

_It begins with two._

_Brought to rest upon the entrance of a school, how will they wake in this new world?_

* * *

Aizawa would not describe himself as easily surprised. In fact, it was his ability to read and evaluate people that made him so effective as both a hero and a teacher.

Regardless, when Aizawa came to work that day, still holding a coffee from the morning, he didn’t expect two children passed out in front of the doors.

(How the hell did they pass the detection systems?)

(Who sends kids to infiltrate a hero school?)

Aizawa concluded that something was up. Kids don’t just pass alarm systems on accident, and the definitely don’t fall unconscious for no reason.

He crouched down to get a good look at them. A girl in a bear themed hoodie and star clips, and a boy in a white lab coat and large glasses.

He had never seen these kids before. Neither of them looked old enough to attend UA, but they were the wrong age to be children of nearby residents as well.

Aizawa definitely wasn’t paid enough for this. He sighed and picked them up.

(They were so light… and small…)

“Problem children are just coming out of the ether now, aren’t they?”

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Molly groaned, the light hitting her eyes. A faint buzzing sound echoed to her right. “Feenie it’s too early to call…” She mumbled. The buzzing grew louder.

(Wait that might be Trixie… or maybe Lorelai wanted her to cover another shift… or Dad called for breakfast again…)

She sighed as he heard a shuffle. Definitely Lorelai teasing her, Dad would have been louder. Probably turned off her alarm clock again. “No… I’m sleeping for a few more minutes. I stayed up late with homework, leave me alone.”

A soft voice sounded, almost grandmotherly. “[And what are you speaking? I recognize some words, but others are in a different language. Strange for a child to be fluent to the point of speaking in multiple dialects.]” Molly couldn’t make out most of the words, they were like gibberish to her.

(She _had_ recognized a few words though...)

“What…” She opened her eyes to see a short elderly woman in a cartoonish nurse uniform before her. Molly laid in a hospital bed, with various monitoring devices attached to her body. She saw a door leading to a hall, along with another door that was cracked open, molly could spot some medical supplies there. There was a curtain that blocked her view of the rest of the place

“What is this? A hospital?” she looked up questioningly. “Or a nurse’s office? This isn’t my school nurse.” This was the time Molly realized that she wasn’t wearing her usual bear hoodie or her backpack.

Molly jolted up “My hoodie!” She exclaimed, looking around frantically.

The elderly woman tilted her head and talked some more nonsense. “[Calm down, child. I cannot understand you when you speak like this.]”

“Uh… My bookbag?” Molly tried again, but was met with a head shake of non-comprehension.

“Well… My backpack.” Molly reached for her shoulders, as if holding a bag. “And my hoodie?” She mimed pulling a hood over her head.

The lady nodded in understanding and pointed to a chair, where the hoodie was folded neatly by the backpack. “[It’s over there dear.]”

“Oh good…” Molly sighed

The woman mumbled something, stepping out of the room “[I’ll have to bring in Nezu…]”

Molly frowned. Her mind was brimming with questions, but there were no answers in sight.

(Why was she here? Was she hurt? Why couldn’t she understand this lady, was it some kind of code?)

She spoke aloud to herself. “This is so weird. I just remember going to sleep and…” She winced, a headache coursing through her mind. “Ow. I probably shouldn’t think about it too much. My head hurts…”

* * *

Chiyo Shuzenji, (also known as Recovery Girl) looked at the strange child with concern in her eyes. She slipped out of hearing range just outside her office and pulled out a walkie talkie. “Nezu, one of them woke up.

A voice came from the small device, the ever-present positive tone of the principal was unmistakable. “The girl I presume?”

(Of course, Nezu knew which one woke up.)

“Yes, the girl. She’s stable, but…” she paused, considering her words carefully. “Communication appears to be a problem.”

Nezu made a small noise of concern. “Does she not speak Japanese?”

“That’s exactly the problem. She’s speaking a variety of languages at once, yet doesn’t seem to understand more than a few words of Japanese. It’s a strange case. I need your linguistic skills”

A laugh rang from the talkie “I’ll be right there. It’s a unique case indeed. Very unexpected.”

(well, Nezu was surprised by someone? A miracle must happen every _once_ in a while, after all.)

Recovery Girl clicked off the receiver and headed back to the office. “Good news child. Nezu will be with you shortly.”

The child tilted her head. “{I still don’t understand you.}” she tugged on a curl nervously “{but you’re probably waiting for somebody… that’s why you stepped out right?}” The girl sighed “{I don’t know why I’m bothering; you can’t really understand me.}” she glanced down, frowning.

The Pro Hero took the opportunity to observe the girl before her. Dark skin and hair contrasted big green eyes, vaguely reminiscent of buttons. Her clothes, a green and purple striped shirt, green pleated skirt, and purple leggings all had a homemade quality, well-worn and loved.

Though the more intriguing thing was this girl’s hair. Or rather, what was in it. Stars that seemed to be just ordinary hairclips before were actually part of her head. (And with a texture of cereal marshmallows, at that.) Recovery Girl had seen hair quirks and food themed quirks, but never one that grew food from the hair, or what appeared to be food at least.

(The jury was out on if they were actually edible.)

Though quirks came in all shapes and sizes, so who knew? Perhaps Recovery Girl simply hadn’t seen one yet.

* * *

Molly sighed. The nurse seemed to be waiting for somebody.

It wasn’t long before a… creature entered the door. It had white fur, and square ears. a long catlike tail waved lazily behind it. There was a scar over its right eye, old and long healed. It also wore a tiny suit, which was adorable.

(It looked like a polar bear to Molly, so that only made it more adorable in her eyes.)

Molly blinked “uh…”

The creature opened its mouth and more of the strange gibberish came out “[Greetings! Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? I’m a teacher of UA, principal Nezu!]” the strange bear thing waved a doglike paw in greetings.

“you talk! Okay… uh… Hi? Do you know where I am?” she asked “I mean, you probably came here because you can understand me, right? So we can probably talk.”

The being smiled “[ah, I understand what you meant recovery girl. Luckily I speak many languages! But without knowing which language each word is, this might take a while]” the beings tail perked up “Hello! I am Nezu. I can understand you!” It said. There were small pauses, momentary gaps of thought that were barely noticeable to someone who weren’t used to reading people.

Molly tilted her head “That’s your name? Okay then… Well, my name is Molly. But I don’t really understand. Is this a school?” Nezu nodded “I guess I can deal with that… I don’t know why I’m here though. This doesn’t look like my school nurse’s office, at least from what I remember.”

Nezu appeared to think for a moment “do you remember coming here?” molly shook her head “then who knows?” he replied

Molly frowned “You’re… not telling me something.” Blinking, she hastily corrected herself. “I- I mean I guess that’s fair. Understandable, really.” She shrugged “It’s not my business anyway. Everyone has secrets.”

Nezu opened his mouth and started to reply to her. But he never got the chance to speak as the room's attention was diverted when a very loud man came in. “[I HEARD ONE OF OUR LITTLE LISTENERS WOKE UP!]”

(Molly was so busy covering her ears that she didn’t notice the scraggly haired man come in afterward.)

In fact, she barely had time to call up her silence bubble before the blonde man was hit with a glowing dust and fell to the floor, snoring. Molly turned and saw that Sylvie was sitting up in the next bed over, a yoyo taut in his hand. His body was tense, his expression read shock. The teen kind of resembled one of those fainting goats, about to fall over any second.

(Sometimes Molly really wondered how her life would come to these things…)


	2. Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Questions are asked, regrets are had, and the language barrier starts to crumble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW i did not mean to leave you guys hanging this long. this chapter has been written out and almost done for months, but i got very distracted with personal projects and the like that i forgot to finish and post it.

Doctor Sylvester Ashling was a person who always valued sleep. Even if his epithet _didn’t_ allow him to fall asleep at will, he had studied the effects of insomnia too well to take sleep for granted.

So when he was woken up by shouting, his mind immediately went into self-defense mode, tossing sleep dust onto the source of the noise. Opening his eyes, he saw Molly holding her ears, some sort of dog thing in a suit, an elderly nurse, a disheveled looking man, and the man that was the source of the sound snoring on the floor.

(Really, it served him right for shouting while people are asleep)

It took a second before he slackened his yoyos string. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Molly deactivate her epithet, looking grateful that none of the adults in the room were paying attention to her. Instead, Sylvester felt the gazes on him.

Sylvester groaned; his head was pounding. “What are you looking at?” He eyed the room again, noticing the familiar weight of his lab coat was missing. “Where is my jacket?” 

The disheveled man opened his mouth and spoke a strange jargon, unfamiliar to Sylvester. “[You should have expected something like that. You’re too loud.]” the man looked at the snoring man disappointedly.

“What are you saying?” Sylvester rubbed his head “Ugh… headache. Ow. What happened?” he asked molly

(His voice totally didn’t crack at that what are you saying)

Molly turned to him, smiling nervously. “I don’t have a clue. I was hoping _you_ knew that. And that you can understand this weird... gibberish. Nothings really made sense since I woke up, but Mr. Nezu can talk with us, kind of...” She gestured to the strange dog man

The creature now known as Nezu cleared its throat, calling attention to itself. “I am Nezu. Can you tell us who you are?”

it took a bit for Sylvester to wrap his head around the concept of ‘a dog is currently successfully communicating with people.’ but he shrugged it off. “Uh Huh…” He stared blankly for a second, weighing the pros and cons.

(Sylvester reasoned that there probably wasn’t much harm in telling the dog man who he was. But on the contrary, he had to be careful about it. He should probably start with basic knowledge…)

* * *

Shouta Aizawa (or Eraser Head to the few who knew him.) was a man of logic. And though he couldn’t understand the language, he knew enough about language to realize that there was logic to this boys’ words, nonsensical though it seemed. Hints of German, Spanish, English, and other dialects peppered the child’s speech patterns. Even so, it was not simply gibberish. The boy spoke consistently, with a mature tone that made Aizawa initially question his age.

(Though the boy was the size of a child, he acted around his teenage years, with a voice crack that provided adequate proof of adolescence.)

This child was currently standing there, not talking. Staring blankly. Shaking slightly.

The girl spoke up “{uh… Sylvie?}” the boy jolted, coming back to earth

“{what? Uh…}” The boy cleared his throat “{right. my name is doctor Sylvester Ashling. You’ve probably heard of me.}” though he was speaking unintelligible language, his smug tone was obvious.

(yeah. definitely a teenager)

Nezu simply shook his head to the teen’s words.

The boy blinked, momentarily in shock. “{Wait, really? That’s… surprising. My name… It doesn’t ring a bell? Not at all?}”

“{No, it doesn’t.}” Aizawa noted that Nezu had regret in his tone.

The boy exhaled slightly, one cheek puffing out as he held his breath. “{that doesn’t make sense…}” he murmured

Nezu tilted his head passively “{you are surprised.}”

“{I said I’m a psychologist. A person of interest, a public figure. I’m one of the leading figures in epithet research. I graduated at 15, I wrote a _book_ about my findings and research. Its _very_ strange that you don’t know about me at least a little bit, inscribed or otherwise. This is Sweet Jazz City, isn’t it?}”

“{this is}” Nezu cleared his throat and spoke in Japanese “Musutafu, Japan!” the eccentric principal waved a paw “{I haven’t heard of a Sweet Jazz City.}”

The boy raised an eyebrow, repeating the word to himself “{well, I’ve never heard about a… Musutafu Japan before either, so I guess we’re even on that front.}”

“{something you said before is interesting.}” Nezu hummed “{An… Epithet, you said it was? I do not know what that word means.}”

Whatever those words meant; they made the two children jaws drop

* * *

Molly blinked at Mr. Nezu’s question

Sylvie laughed. “what do you mean ‘you don’t know what epithet means?’ you cant be serious. This is stuff people learn about when they’re three.” He sighed “that has to be a joke, right?”

“about that…” The brown-haired girl cleared her throat, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. She nearly buckled under their collective gaze. “w-well, I think I know what’s happening. It makes sense considering everything. The communication problems, unfamiliar locations, and the fact that they don’t know about epithets. I…”

Molly hesitated for a moment; eyes squeezed shut. “I think… this might be another dimension. You know, that multiverse thing that has a lot of research.” She shrugged “I have a friend who talked about it a lot” Molly murmured dismissively

Sylvie hummed somewhat dismissively. “and you’re absolutely sure that’s the case.”

“well, it’s definitely not anywhere in Taiga country. Cities with forests like this don’t exist anywhere else, I think...” She peered out the window as she spoke, glimpsing an urban looking area. There were industrial buildings, roads, Molly could even spot some lots filled with rubble, like there had been construction nearby… or some sort of destruction. But something about the city was… wrong. It was too small; molly could almost see the forest outlining the perimeter of the entire metropolis from the window. Then there was the layout. She couldn’t see a single shop or apartment; it was just industrial offices as far as the eye could see. Possibly the biggest thing… there was no activity. Even in the quietest hours of Sweet Jazz City, Molly could usually spot at least a few signs of life. But this cityscape looked more like a movie set than a place that people used and lived in.

Molly looked away from the fake city, and instead observed the shock on Sylvie’s face slowly turning to realization “yeah… that _does_ make sense. It explains a lot, actually.”

“it’s not much of a guess as an observation I suppose. All signs kind of point to it. I think maybe epithet is a word that is gibberish to them, just like a lot of their words are gibberish to us. And it’s easier to swallow than ‘the whole world somehow suddenly forgot everything and developed a whole new way of speaking but us’ isn’t it?”

“I mean statistically that is probable, but the alternate universe is the better option.”

“well- “

Before she could finish, the loud man stirred. Attention was drawn to him again, and Molly noted Sylvie grip his yoyo a little tighter.

Molly hadn’t had a good look at him before, but as the man rose up, she noted that he resembled a character in a game Trixie had shown her, though she couldn’t quite remember the name of it.

(He also looked like a bird, for some reason.)

Before the bird… loud… man could speak, the nurse woman opened the door, ushering both the unkempt man and the loud man out “[out you two, you have classes to teach. You’ve been disruptive enough. Tell anyone trying to get in that no visitors are allowed!]”

* * *

After that… interruption, Sylvie turned to his friend “you were saying?”

Molly raised her hands passively “I think Mr. Nezu is figuring this out as we talk. I kind of noticed that he’s only saying words we’ve said, or versions of them. That would mean there’s at least two ways to talk, right? Probably more though since Mr. Nezu is mostly recycling words.” Sylvie, blinked, surprised at her perception. Even he hadn’t noticed.

Nezu nodded “Communication would be much easier if we had something…”

Sylvie blinked “well, I have a pocket dictionary.” The boy reached into his hoodie and pulled out a small book that boasted on the cover ‘all the same words as a big dictionary! But smaller! And harder to read!’

(He could almost hear Giovanni calling him a nerd. Ugh.)

Nezu smiled even wider somehow (Sylvie wondered how he even maintained a smile? Can mice… dog… things smile?) the well-dressed mammal extended a paw knowingly.

The boy stared at the very weird looking appendage. It was definitely not a hand. Sylvie blinked and handed it over. “Right. it’s useful for identifying the meaning of my patient’s epithets and diagnosing possible solutions” the psychologist then crossed his arms, waiting.

Nezu flipped through the book for a minute. “Excellent! Now communication will no longer be a problem!”

Sylvester blinked “already? That was fast. You sure you don’t need help with that?”

“oh, no, it’s quite alright. It’s similar to an alphabet we have in this world, perhaps with a few extra characters. Do you mind if I keep this? Or is it sentimental to you?”

Sylvie threw his hands into the air “I… guess you can keep it? I’m not particularly attached to it.”

The mammal nodded “well then it’s time for a proper introduction. Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? I’m principal Nezu! The kind woman who treated you is Recovery Girl.” Nezu gestured to the nurse, who gave him a strange look.

Sylvie nodded “Doctor Sylvester Ashling. A pleasure to officially meet you two.”

“I’m Molly Blyndeff…” Molly half-mumbled.

Nezu turned to the nurse, translating what the children had said so far.

The mammal continued, unknown to the children “[ill contact the support department, perhaps they can whip up a translation device.]”

Recovery girl responded questioningly “[Nezu, what exactly are you intending?]”

Nezu whispered a few inaudible words to the woman, excusing the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not proud of this chapter tbh? i mean its... okay, but the pov shifts around too much, and its kinda confusing, but i am way too tired to fix it. i am done with this chapter.
> 
> next chapter will be just two povs, but it will add a new character to meet molly and sylvie! (its halfway done, i got a spur of fanfic inspo lol)
> 
> and i know some of you wanted to know what part of the story we're in, i want you to figure it out from context clues in the next chapter! i will say that its an earlier arc tho!


	3. So now What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more talking. i swear it gets more interesting soon. im trying not to swap povs as much and its actually faster i think!

Chapter 3

The steps of Recovery Girls’ boots echoed through the hall. If Nezu had been so inclined to wear dress shoes, his steps would have been audible as well. Nevertheless, his sneakers softened his foot falls, making him quiet, perhaps eerily so.

But Nezu knew it wouldn’t be long until another sound of footsteps joined him. Soft not from natural cushioning, but a practiced, rehearsed movement.

“You’re leaving them alone?” a tired voice asked. Nezu looked up to see Aizawa standing above him.

The principal smiled knowingly. “I’m not worried about them leaving, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “You’re being very friendly. I would have thought you would be more cautious.”

Nezu laughed “Well, I was concerned at first, but these children are as in the dark as we are. Care to join us?” Nezu gestured to the empty classroom just by the nurse’s office. “That is, if you don’t have class.”

The underground hero grimaced. “I’m free this morning. but you knew that.”

“Indeed, I did!”

Aizawa grinned wryly. “Well, it would be illogical to refuse.”

Nezu laughed jovially. “We have much to discuss.”

[Sometime later…]

Recovery Girl hummed “Ah, that explains a great many things. The poor dears.”

Nezu nodded “Perceptive, too. The boy, of course, since he is an apparent college graduate and psychologist, but also the girl. I’ll admit, I was only starting to consider alternate dimensions when she brought it up.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow “And apparently she figured out that you could only talk using words that they had been speaking.”

Nezu smiled, “She’s more observant than she lets on, certainly.”

Recovery Girl crossed her arms in thought “Well, we can’t just kick them out, now can we? They have no support structure.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to discuss with you two.” Nezu started. “Class 1-A recently had a spot come available, after all.”

The school nurse frowned “You aren’t suggesting that we put them in the hero course, are you?”

The principal waved a paw “And why ever not? After all, the boy is 15. Perfect age for entering on a recommendation from myself. And the girl can simply be studying under us, for the future of course.”

Aizawa sighed “We don’t even know the full extent of their quirks.”

“That is true.” Recovery Girl added. “All we know is that one can produce dust that makes people fall asleep, and the other may have a mutation quirk with her hair.”

Nezu smiled once again “Leave that part to me. I will explain to them who we are and what we do, and ask them to collaborate with us until we can find a way for them to get home again.”

Recovery Girl sighed. “Well that is to be expected from our principal.”

Nezu perked his ears. The soft beeping of the recovery robots was near, passing the room as they left the office they had been sent to. “Ah, it seems a student needs your assistance.”

Aizawa grimaced knowingly “What problem child is it this time?” he grumbled.

Recovery Girl inhaled, slightly frustrated. “I can guess.”

* * *

Molly yawned “So… now what?” she asked, flexing her fingers. In truth, she knew they didn’t have much in the way of options, but she figured they could pile together information while they waited.

Sylvie shrugged “We wait, I guess. You tired?”

Molly blinked at his question. “Yeah. I feel like I haven’t slept all day.” That feeling was pretty normal for her, but she figured it was something Sylvie had learned to pick up on.

“Now that you mention it, me too. That’s weird… I always make sure to sleep in order to set a good example for my clients.” He muttered. Molly raised an eyebrow at that. it made logical sense, but for some reason it was hard to imagine on Sylvie.

With that bit of information filed away, Molly led with the beginning. “So… what’s the last thing you remember?”

“…After the museum? Just the ambulance ride, truthfully. But even that is a… strange blurry mess.” He winced, slightly lifting up his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose. “It was still night, I think.”

“I remember… the beach. Its… also a blur…” a dull throbbing that had been unnoticed since she woke up suddenly spiked in intensity, but Molly’s customer service instincts resisted the urge to rub it. “But that was a few days after the museum. Last I heard you were still in the hospital under observation.”

“Blackouts… weird. But I think if its related to the alternate dimension stuff, it should come back eventually.”

Molly was somewhat doubtful “I think… it’s because it’s the time we were teleported? But I remember a few days after the museum incident at least, why did I arrive at the same time as you?”

“That could also be explained with blackouts. No way to know when we were _actually_ teleported.”

Molly leaned back, resting against the small cot “Yeah… that makes sense.” She trailed off into silence, not sure of where to lead the conversation, nor wanting to. Molly half expected Sylvie to try and continue, but he too had lapsed into a slightly uncomfortable silence.

Molly was used to silence, so she didn’t mind much.

Her mind began to go over a recap. She was with Sylvie in an alternate world, in a nurse’s office located in a strange pseudo city, and the only one who could communicate with them was a talking polar bear.

 _Was_ it a polar bear? It had a catlike tail… whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t human. But animals didn’t have epithets. Feenie had told her that long ago.

Almost involuntarily, Molly’s mind flitted back to when she was smaller.

_She was 6, maybe 7, and it was Feenie’s birthday. Molly and Trixie had been invited to the party of a girl passing flyers out in the playground. The two barley knew her, as she was in a separate class, but Trixie had always wanted to attend a party and Molly was happy to join her best friend._

_(the two had been placed on the same table at the start of the year due to budget cuts. Trixie gave Molly half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Molly gave Trixie half of a tuna sandwich, and they were best friends ever since.)_

_Molly’s mom had picked Trixie up, and the car drove to the address on the invite._

_Molly never forgot the sight of the enormous mansion growing nearer and nearer. Even as she grew older, it was an astounding sight. Walking in was even more amazing, with balloons and streamers everywhere._

_The only thing missing was people._

_Trixie had been the first to spot the blonde little girl humming happily while eating a piece of cake by herself. She blended in with the scenery, being just as pastel with bells everywhere._

_Molly could no longer remember the exact conversation, but she remembered what it was about. Feenie (neither of the girls could pronounce Feenie’s full name at the time, so Trixie had shortened it to Feenie and the name stuck) had invited over a hundred people, but nobody had showed up yet. The blond didn’t seem to mind much, contentedly eating her cake with one hand while holding a book in the other._

_“They were very busy” she had said “That’s what Miss Sonoko told me.”_

_(Later Trixie told Molly about the flyers she had seen in the gutter. They both swore never to tell.)_

_Regardless, the three had a blast, jumping in a bounce house, playing hide and seek, and eating cake. Near the end, it was present time. Feenie ignored the huge pile of presents from her parents, instead opting for Molly and Trixie’s present._

_Trixie had wrapped up a book about epithets. “I spent all my allowance on it. The bookstore lady said that it was really popular with kids.” Feenie had loved it._

_Molly had bagged a custom-made lamb plushie, with a little bell collar around its neck. Feenie had immediately snuggled up with it._

_Eventually, the two had to go, but not before promising a lot more playdates between the three of them._

Molly was abruptly broken out of her daydream by knocking on the door. Before either she or Sylvie could answer, two robots shuffled in, carrying a stretcher.

On it was a teen with curly green hair, likely the same age as Sylvie, groaning in pain. Molly risked a glance at the mangled, broken arm hanging limply off the stretcher, and winced.

Sylvie seemed to have spotted it too, also wincing empathetically. “How has this kid not passed out yet?” he muttered “He has to be out of any sort of stamina by now…”

Molly debated helping the teen. Revealing her epithet to be able to dumb down pain had been a massive mistake last time, but she needed to get on these people’s good side if she wanted their help.

She decided that, for now, good graces were probably the better idea.

Cautiously, Molly approached the cot the teen was laid in by the robots that were now shuffling out of the door.

Sylvie whispered a hushed “What are you doing?” to Molly, but she ignored him. Molly knelt beside him and reached out her own arm to the broken one and closed her eyes.

“I can’t do much to heal it, but I can at least numb the pain.” She focused on her epithet, of radiating calm, numb quiet.

The teens face was no longer wincing in pain, but instead, he opened his eyes. They were green, like Molly’s own, but much darker.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no voice came out. It wasn’t a part of Molly’s epithet, but he simply seemed speechless.

Molly stood up awkwardly, done. “It should last… half an hour, I think.” She muttered, barely audible.

The boy immediately started talking “[Was that your quirk? It was incredible! I don’t feel any pain at all… are you a student? Or maybe Recovery Girl’s assistant? That quirk is so useful… you could use it to help civilians when other healers are busy, or to ignore your own injuries, or to support heroes, or even general pain relief…]”

Molly stepped back. “Um… uh... I don’t understand you?”

The boy seemed to not notice her, preoccupied with his muttering. “[Its versatile, if not combat applicable. It’s a great support quirk…]” Molly looked at Sylvie awkwardly.

He shrugged. “Want me to knock him out?”

Molly shook her head “That’s probably not the best idea… besides, he seems…” Molly glanced over at the green haired boy, still mumbling things under his breath. “…busy.” she finished.

The children (sans the muttering green haired one) all looked up when the door opened again.

Molly chuckled awkwardly when Nezu came back in. “Heh… guess I should sit back down now…” scooting past the bed, molly returned to her own cot.

the girl carefully observed the three new arrivals as Sylvie took to conversation.

Said psychologist was leaning forward, his elbows firmly planted on his lap. He jerked his head towards the teen. “So… mind explaining why someone is that beat up here?” he asked, intertwining his fingers as he rested his chin on his hands.

Nezu hummed, looking quite unconcerned “I’m afraid Izuku does that sometimes.”

Recovery Girl walked over to the boy, Izuku, and started to berate him from the sound of her tone. “[I hope this doesn’t become a pattern Midoriya.]”

“[Ah… sorry. But I feel fine now! Well, my arms still broken, but I don’t feel it anymore.]” he looked over to Molly. “[Thanks for that, really.]” the boy smiled awkwardly.

Molly blinked, seeing Nezu’s smile grow wider. “I… still don’t understand you.” She mumbled self consciously

Nezu tilted his head “Well, let’s leave Recovery Girl to her patient. We have much to discuss!”

Sylvie blinked “Really? But there’s so much-”

“All will be explained, I assure you.” Nezu smiled. “But I prefer to discuss in private.”

Molly and Sylvie briefly exchanged a look, nodding understandingly. They wordlessly gathered their belongings and followed the creature out the door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo! done! i nearly forgot to post this. im working on the next chapter, so hopefully itl come out by the end of the month.
> 
> im not sure why i put the pheonica segment, its probably going to be proved as non canon, but i wrote it when in a rush of creativity, so i kept it in. think of it as... a combo of backstory and motivation. also i drew from some real life experiences because i am like feenie. i am dumb and blonde and soft.
> 
> and izuku is here! having broken his bones yet again.


	4. Solutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations are given, a cover story is made and the translator is introduced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...look wikis exist and trying to put it in my own words would have made this take longer, I already had to cut it in half as is. lots of dialogue is difficult, and both this chapter and the next are full of dialogue.

Chapter 4

Molly hadn’t expected to see a man in a bright yellow sleeping bag in the room Nezu had brought them to. He laid sideways on the couch, sipping on what looked like a portable juice pouch.

Upon closer inspection, Molly realized that this was the scruffy man from earlier. She hadn’t taken much note of him before, but now she took in his long, dark, and messy hair, his sparce stubble, and his dark eyes that had permanent bags underneath them. He looked disheveled, like somebody had dragged him out of bed and he wasn’t particularly enthused about it. He looked both intimidating and completely harmless.

Molly let Sylvie pass her, sitting down right next to the psychologist.

As Nezu closed the door, the scruffy man sat up. “[So… are you going to explain to them?]” he asked, disgruntled as he emptied the juice pouch.

Nezu smiled “[Of course, of course.]” he then turned to Molly and Sylvie “You see, I have a proposal for the both of you.”

Sylvie leaned forward “A proposal?” he quirked an eyebrow “And what, if I may ask, is this proposal?”

“You see, Doctor, this is a place of learning! An academy for children pursuing one very specific career.”

Sylvie hummed, and Molly glanced over to see his glasses completely hiding his eyes “And what career is that?” he asked, grinning

“Why, the career of heroism! With the rise of quirks came a rise in crime, and so hero became a paid occupation, having the license to clean up the streets with their quirks.”

“And you want us to attend, I reckon?”

“Yes, yes. As the principal of UA, I reach out this lifeline to the both of you. We will do our best to help you return home, but you need a place to stay in the meantime.”

“What’s the catch? What do you want in return, principal?”

Nezu grinned “All I ask is that you tell me all about how epithets function in your world, and tell us your epithets for the registry.”

Sylvie glared suspiciously “Why would I tell you that? Having that kind of information gives you a tactical advantage.”

Molly jumped in the conversation “I think its best if we cooperate, Sylvie. We don’t have anywhere else to go…” she reasoned “If these people wanted to deceive us, I don’t think we would be so free to refuse.”

Sylvie put a hand to his chin in thought. “Well then…” his look of thought turned somewhat smug as he adjusted his glasses. “As a leading expert on epithet psychology, I will explain them to the best of my ability.”

**[one very long explanation later]**

Nezu nodded once Sylvie finished. “I see! They’re similar to emitter quirks, but with a much less biological origin. and what are your epithets?”

Sylvie mumbled something inaudible, but nodded. “Alright then… well, my epithet is Drowsy. I can lull people to sleep and make dreams reality.” He tapped his chin “I can also do this.” Sylvie summoned an of his counting sheep to his side, placing it gently on his lap.

Nezu smiled. “That’s quite fascinating! Creativity is an intriguing factor indeed” The principal tapped his chin in thought before continuing “And you?” Nezu looked at Molly pointedly.

Molly jerked her head up slightly his address. She fumbled for words momentarily before answering. “Um… my epithet is Dumb…” she mumbled “Literally, it’s called Dumb. I can mute sounds and simplify things. If I focus, I can nullify pain. It doesn’t actually heal anyone though, and it doesn’t last forever…” she trailed off, sighing.

Nezu nodded. “Quite interesting… well, these epithets can luckily be quite easily worked into a cover story for yourself.” the principal eyed the both of them intently

“Ah… I guess.” Suddenly, Molly found the floor very interesting.

“From now on, you are exchange students from a foreign and little-known country. You were accepted into UA on my recommendation due to your incredible potential. Of course, this recommendation came late due to scheduling conflicts, so the testing was done in your country to save time. Dr. Ashling shall join the first-year hero students thanks to a free spot, and Miss Blyndeff shall be studying under recovery girl as a future support hero. Unfortunately, due to an unfortunate quirk that affected the residents of your country, your language is difficult to understand and so you must have a translator until you lean Japanese. I have already contacted the support department on a translation device in development, and they were kind enough to let me borrow two prototypes. Those should arrive just before school ends, which is shortly.”

Molly gulped “That’s… a lot to swallow. At least Miss Recovery Girl is nice… and it’s a pretty good cover story. I guess we can avoid questions with saying that its classified or something.”

“It is a lot to take in, yes.” Nezu admitted. “But that only makes it more important to remember.”

Sylvie nodded “Understandable. I’ve already memorized it anyway.” The boy tapped his temple smugly

“But uh... if we’re joining the school, who’s our teacher?” Molly asked “And uh… where are we going to live? Something tells me that this place doesn’t exactly have living arrangements.”

“I’m afraid it’s true. UA has very little in terms of housing arrangements. But as for your questions… why, he’s right in front of you.”

The man looked at Nezu, unimpressed. “[Mind translating?]”

Molly tuned them out as Nezu proceeded to translate. Instead, she nudged Sylvie “Hey…” she whispered. “You okay?”

Sylvie scoffed “Of course I am.” He looked over, an unreadable expression on his face. “Why do you ask?”

Molly sighed, fidgeting with the trim of her hoodie. “No reason, I guess…” she lied.

Sylvie frowned, and Molly could tell that the psychologist didn’t believe her, but he left it alone.

The two of them looked up as Nezu finished translating to the scruffy man.

“Now children, this is Shouta Aizawa, though while you are here you can call him Aizawa-sensei. As I implied before, you will be living with him as the safest and most discreet option” Nezu informed them.

Before either of them could open their mouths to ask a question, Nezu’s vest buzzed. “Ah! The devices must be ready. I’ll be back in a moment!” Nezu smiled and exited, leaving them in an awkward silence.

Molly idly kicked her legs, mulling over events. Quirks, heroes, housing… it was a lot. Molly pondered the implications. With Sylvie’s explanation Nezu had supplied information about quirks as well. It was weird that they were regulated, but Molly supposed it sort of made sense. Quirks weren’t around as long as epithets, and far more common, so ruling was stricter than her own home world.

Still, it was strange to think about…

She sneaked a glance over at the scruffy man. (Aizawa-sensei, her mind supplied.) He looked tired, and she felt a pang of empathy and guilt. He probably dealt with a lot; Molly didn’t want to make him more tired.

Aizawa-sensei caught her staring, and Molly looked away. In that moment, she felt like he was staring through her, gleaning all her innermost thoughts and secrets just from her eyes. It was oddly depowering.

Instead, she turned to Sylvie. He looked bored, doing tricks with his yoyo. She stared at it for a while, unwilling to speak up.

Luckily, she didn’t have to.

Nezu returned to the room with a small white box “And here they are! These devices work both ways, so you will understand us as well as be understood yourself! Its sensitivity allows volume to be customized based on distance…” he handed the devices to them as he explained various features, while Sylvie nodded along and asked questions.

However, Molly tuned out their discussion in favor of examining the objects. The devices were earpieces, with dark plastic encircling an off-white circle that upon closer inspection was in fact, a button. The same off-white also colored the edges of the seams, along with the other protruding plastic pieces. Emerging from the top was a long, curved bit of plastic, the part that attached to the ear. And out the front was a small mic that looked adjustable. Turning it around Molly saw soft padding where the device would touch skin, and rotating it revealed a small slot for some sort of chip placed at the bottom, along with ports for various sound devices.

* * *

Sylvester ran a thumb over the translation device. “And… you say these allow us to understand you no matter what dialect?” he pondered the implications of multiple languages once again.

Nezu smiled “Why yes! As long as it has the right translation card, that is. I took the liberty of plugging your dictionary into these.” Nezu held up two SD cards, both colored yellow. “Of course, these are temporary until you learn Japanese.”

Sylvie nodded “Naturally.” He placed it onto his ear, fiddling around with both his glasses and the device until both fit perfectly. Glancing over, he saw Molly do the same.

“Now, to turn it on you simply press the button on the side. It will translate the words you speak directly to Japanese, and vice versa.”

“Interesting…” he muttered. He pressed the button, and the device lit up a sleepy teal. Molly’s, too had lit up, but hers was a soft green, like her eyes.

“[Now, you should understand me!]” Nezu said happily. Sylvie at first hadn’t even noticed that the principal had switched back to Japanese, but the realization hit him quickly.

“[This is… strange.]” Sylvie said, pausing at the faint echo of the Japanese words repeating his own. It was easy to ignore, barely there at all.

There was a clearing of a throat. “[Good, we can talk now.]” said Aizawa-sensei. Sylvie looked up at him and fought to suppress a shudder. Something about his eyes were… well, it felt unsettlingly familiar, but he couldn’t quite place the feeling.

“[Nice to meet you Aizawa-sensei…]” Molly spoke up hesitantly. “[Oh wow this _is_ weird.]” the girl muttered, rubbing her ear in apparent nervousness.

"[Well its best you get used to it]” the man said dismissively.

Nezu spoke up once more “[Now I must give you a history of quirks and the school! Try to remember it, but you can ask a teacher to clarify if you forget later.]”

**[another lengthy explanation later]**

“[That should be all!]” Nezu said as he finished up. “[I will stay here and finish up the paperwork. as for uniforms, they’ll be ready by tomorrow. I can’t say the same for hero outfits, however, so draw a design up when you’re free!]”

Aizawa stood up, stretching out of his sleeping bag and scooping up the dropped juice pouch “[Come on, Ashling, afternoon classes are wrapping up, so ill introduce you to the class before they leave for the day.]”

Sylvester raised an eyebrow “[Its _Doctor_ Ashling.]”

Aizawa looked decidedly unimpressed. “[Just follow me.]”

Sighing, Sylvester followed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa is a strange, strange cryptid.
> 
> if you'll allow me a tangent, I've always had the headcanon that aizawas eyes are generally unsettling to look at just due to the nature of his quirk. I also headcanon that hes perfected a glare that doubles the effect, though its mostly passive.


End file.
